Platini snared as well. I was all for him, until he took Champions League completely to pay-TV with the BT deal. I think he would do the same with Euros and WC eventually. Though some of his reforms (24 team Euros, Euro 2020 played across Europe, sentiment behind FFP) I applaud, eventually they all succumb to the money.

If an organization is corrupt, it only stands to reason that the leadership is corrupt.

But I suspect this is nothing new. The only question is - why now? Well, ask yourselves this question: Who blew the lid on the corruption to begin with? & who is scheduled to host the next World Cup ??

If they're good enough to play at World Cups, then why not in between?

Rowan wrote:If an organization is corrupt, it only stands to reason that the leadership is corrupt.

But I suspect this is nothing new. The only question is - why now? Well, ask yourselves this question: Who blew the lid on the corruption to begin with? & who is scheduled to host the next World Cup ??

Not sure what you're getting at. The lid on corruption in FIFA has been blown many times, years ago, and by many different organizations in many countries. And there have been high profile investigations even before Russia and Qatar were announced as hosts.

British press in particular, but the press worldwide in general, blew the lid on it. That prompted government investigations. And the investigation this time is by the swiss government.

I know I'm being pedantic. But you're making this out to be essentially a US Russia thing, when that's tangential, or indirectly related at best. And even if that's a factor, it doesn't change the fact that the corruption was so disgusting and endemic that its appalling that it wasn't acted on years ago.

One thing that does annoy me about the whole Qatar 2022 thing is the noise made by certain countries about playing in the June-July time period. As usual the European teams will get there way but how many countries play in those conditions year round but never complain. There are contingencies that can be taken to reduce the effect of the heat as anyone from hot climates can atest too. God forbid that some other teams get an advantage over the UEFA team.

I think the lure of the Euro has destroyed the international game. The clubs are so powerful now they draw the best players from all over the world. This has actually helped improve the standard of many African & a few Asian teams, because they too are now professionals, but not to the extent they are able to compete with Europe. The reason for this is that, whereas certain European nations (ie Germany, Italy, Spain) are able to keep the bulk of their national squad playing within their own leagues - and mostly for the same few select teams - nations from the other continents have their players spread all over the place. & it is this lack of familiarity which is the major difference. Even in the case of Brazil, it was very rare for any of their players to be signed by overseas clubs prior to the 90s. But now they're mostly playing for European clubs, and the national team has been all but destroyed.

If they're good enough to play at World Cups, then why not in between?

FIFA corruption scandal appears to have moved to the awarding of the 2006 tournament to Germany. About time. The Oceania delegate voted against the wishes of his organization - with what was ultimately the decisive vote. Something very dodgy about that, but for some reason it was never given much attention . . .

If they're good enough to play at World Cups, then why not in between?

Suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter has revealed UEFA President Michel Platini was behind Qatar winning the 2022 World Cup bid. The deal involves a former French president, lunch and the crown prince of Qatar.

The original plan for the 2022 World Cup was to be in the USA, but for a lunch between the crown prince and Platini.

"In 2010 we had a discussion of the World Cup and then we went to a double decision. For the World Cups it was agreed that we go to Russia [in 2018] because it's never been in Russia [or] Eastern Europe, and for 2022 we go back to America. And so we will have the World Cup in the two biggest political powers," Blatter is quoted as saying by TASS.

The disgraced Blatter, 79, and Platini, 60, have both been suspended by FIFA's ethics committee for 90 days as an investigation into a suspicious payment takes place.

"And everything was good until the moment when [former French President Nicolas] Sarkozy came in a meeting with the crown prince of Qatar, who is now the ruler of Qatar. And at a lunch afterwards with Mr. Platini he said it would be good to go to Qatar. And this has changed all pattern," he said. "There was an election by secret ballot. Four votes from Europe went away from the USA and so the result was 14 to eight. If you put the four votes, it would have been 12 to 10. If the USA was given the World Cup, we would only speak about the wonderful World Cup 2018 in Russia and we would not speak about any problems at FIFA."

Rowan wrote:FIFA corruption scandal appears to have moved to the awarding of the 2006 tournament to Germany. About time. The Oceania delegate voted against the wishes of his organization - with what was ultimately the decisive vote. Something very dodgy about that, but for some reason it was never given much attention . . .

This is very old news. It was in the NZ media at least a few years ago and the NZ media always pointed the finger at NZ's Oceania rep Charlie Dempsey. I think most NZers who are old enough to know about Charlie Dempsey probably think he is the worst NZ sports admin and what he did in 2006 was probably the most disgusting act by a NZ sports admin ever! Personally if i'd ever met him I would've been strongly tempted to do physical violence to him! I think just before he died he pretty much admitted and said he was sorry for what he'd done but i think that was only because he was shocked by the way he was savaged by the NZ press and public i.e. crocodile tears!

Suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter has revealed UEFA President Michel Platini was behind Qatar winning the 2022 World Cup bid. The deal involves a former French president, lunch and the crown prince of Qatar.

The original plan for the 2022 World Cup was to be in the USA, but for a lunch between the crown prince and Platini.

"In 2010 we had a discussion of the World Cup and then we went to a double decision. For the World Cups it was agreed that we go to Russia [in 2018] because it's never been in Russia [or] Eastern Europe, and for 2022 we go back to America. And so we will have the World Cup in the two biggest political powers," Blatter is quoted as saying by TASS.

The disgraced Blatter, 79, and Platini, 60, have both been suspended by FIFA's ethics committee for 90 days as an investigation into a suspicious payment takes place.

"And everything was good until the moment when [former French President Nicolas] Sarkozy came in a meeting with the crown prince of Qatar, who is now the ruler of Qatar. And at a lunch afterwards with Mr. Platini he said it would be good to go to Qatar. And this has changed all pattern," he said. "There was an election by secret ballot. Four votes from Europe went away from the USA and so the result was 14 to eight. If you put the four votes, it would have been 12 to 10. If the USA was given the World Cup, we would only speak about the wonderful World Cup 2018 in Russia and we would not speak about any problems at FIFA."

Yes great news! And it should send a clear message to football admin, and fans that a football idol feels safer attending a rugby match! Of course I'm confident most football fans will take the easy way out and rubbish the man rather than listening to the message and doing something positive about it.

To waste my time as usual, I checked the situation of the 20 "habitual" Rugby World Cup teams in the qualifiers of the Football World Cup

NEW ZEALAND "just" a play-off against South America’s 5th placed between the kiwis and the world cupENGLAND almost qualifiedSOUTH AFRICA in danger, needs to win the last two matchesIRELAND battling with Wales to be the runner-up of the pool and to go to play-off (North Ireland likely runner-up too)AUSTRALIA play-off against Syria, then eventual duel against North America’s 4th placedSCOTLAND difficult pursuing of a runner-up placement to progress to play-offWALES battling with Ireland to be the runner-up of its pool and to progress to play-offFRANCE near to the qualificationFIJI eliminated ARGENTINA in full battle for the qualificationJAPAN QUALIFIEDGEORGIA eliminated TONGA eliminated ITALY near to the qualificationROMANIA eliminated SAMOA eliminated USA battling for the qualificationURUGUAY battling for the qualificationNAMIBIA eliminated CANADA eliminated

And now England has outright qualified as winner of UEFA Group F. Now to see them disappoint again.

EDIT: The CONCACAF qualification makes me a bit nervous for USMNT. Sure they've only lost to Costa Rica and Mexico (though managing to tie the latter in Azteca), but they should win at least one of their remaining games. Sure both are winnable, a home date with Panama before visiting Trinidad and Tobago, but...

EDIT2: Holy crap! Iceland now in the driver's seat of UEFA Group I after a dominant 3-0 display at Turkey. With Kosovo remaining, they might even make a World Cup debut.

Canalina wrote:To waste my time as usual, I checked the situation of the 20 "habitual" Rugby World Cup teams in the qualifiers of the Football World Cup

NEW ZEALAND "just" a play-off against PERU between the kiwis and the world cupENGLAND QUALIFIEDSOUTH AFRICA only qualify if they win the last two matches (both against Senegal).IRELAND play-off (as is North Ireland)AUSTRALIA play-off against HONDURASSCOTLAND eliminated WALES eliminated FRANCE QUALIFIEDFIJI eliminated ARGENTINA QUALIFIEDJAPAN QUALIFIEDGEORGIA eliminated TONGA eliminated ITALY QUALIFIEDROMANIA eliminated SAMOA eliminated USA eliminated URUGUAY QUALIFIEDNAMIBIA eliminated CANADA eliminated

Update

How to grow rugby worldwide?Look at the world ranking in July. Teams ranked 1-10 have to play one team from 11-20 (they don't play in a regular competition) away the next year. 11-20 play 21-30 away and so on. Yes, it really is that simple.

grande wrote:I'm a Canadian, with an Italian father and Welsh mother, and I also like the colour orange... Who the hell am I going to cheer for next year?!

Off course for Germany the world-reknown country of love, humor and never ending strawberry fields.Also another soccer triumph would hurt nobody as there are no other sports known in Germany apart from soccer already

How to grow rugby worldwide?Look at the world ranking in July. Teams ranked 1-10 have to play one team from 11-20 (they don't play in a regular competition) away the next year. 11-20 play 21-30 away and so on. Yes, it really is that simple.